Recently on the forum, I revealed that I am looking to buy an XBox 360 because I just cannot pass up the upcoming Banjo-Kazooie game after I liked the first two on the N64 so much. In case this wasn't traitorous enough coming from a long-time Nintendo fanatic such as myself, I now have made the unthinkable leap and played a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Over the years I have taken great pride in despising Sonic and anything related to him, not so much because of his games, with which I have little experience, but because I think of him as a rival to the Mario Universe even today, and I hate his cooler-than-you attitude. I never thought I would willingly play a Sonic game... but then, I never thought he would appear in an RPG either.
When I first heard about this game, I immediately drew a comparison to a certain beloved classic, none other than Super Mario RPG. Mind you, at that time I did not know if this game would include turn-based battles with action commands (it does). I did not know if it would involve different partner abilities in the field (it does, and yes, I know that's more like Paper Mario than SMRPG). This game is co-produced by Sega and Bioware, and though I've heard good things about Bioware, I haven't played any of their other games, while a Sega game - a Sonic game no less - certainly was not a draw for me. Despite all these things, I felt this had the chance to go the way of the Mario series, with a long-standing sidescroller becoming incorporated into an RPG that maintained many of its familiar elements. Super Mario RPG and the Paper Marios are great games that, in my opinion, took the best of the platforming world and combined it with some of the best of the RPG world. I thought Sonic Chronicles could do the same, and if it did, I knew it would be fun enough for me to overlook those certain elements I've long despised.
For this reason, I decided to give this
game a try. But was it worth my jumping ship, perhaps leading me
to rethink my whole world view of Sonic, or have I acquired even a whole
new dislike for the blue blur? Find out as I analyze this E-rated
RPG for the DS on a scale of 10.
Gameplay:
In the Field: 8
In Battle: 8
Overall: Uh... 8, I guess
Let's jump straight to the heart of the matter, all right? The gameplay can be primarily divided into field mode and battle mode. In field mode, you walk around each map meeting up with enemies that are visible so you can choose whether you engage them in battle, dealing with obstacles, and occassionally talking with NPCS for some extra missions or story furthering segments. Field mode is very familiar if you've played the Paper Marios, in that you'll come across obstacles such as dash ramps, blocks, or gaps that need to be flown across, and you'll have to use the ability of a party member to get past. Between negotiating the obstacles and getting to choose whether or not to fight enemies, I think field mode in this game is a lot better than in a more traditional RPG where you might just be wandering around without any particular obstacles other than a more maze-like setup, and with enemies jumping out at you whether you like it or not. I think Chronicles has got a really good structure, as it was in Paper Mario.
As you go around in the field, you'll find Golden Rings and Chao Eggs. These are very nice extras to find. The Golden Rings are this game's currency, and they're worth collecting particularly since you don't receive Rings after battles, a departure from the formula of most RPGs. You do receive items after each battle, and could sell them for Rings, so this game does still technically have an unlimited number of Rings available. But items don't sell for much, and you may be better off using them. So if you want to buy items at the shop, it's important, and worth your while, to grab as many Rings as you can in the field. Chao Eggs, when found, hatch randomly into one of this series's vaguely Pokemon-esque creatures, which you can equip to your party members like an accessory. They can be useful, plus it's just fun to try to complete your collection of Chao, so it's fun to go out and find the Eggs too. Chao could be traded between friends to level them up, though that wasn't really something I could do. Be that as it may, Chronicles does give good reason to look everywhere in the field, and makes this mode of the game even that much more interesting. The game tells you how many Rings and Eggs there are in each area, so you can track your progress and not go on a pointless hunt when there are none left. There's no fanfare of anything when you get them all, but it works well.
I took off a point for the fact that the obstacles you come across sometimes force you to go back to your base and change your party, as you may not have a character that can get past the obstacle. This wasn't a problem in the Paper Marios because Mario always had all his party members around, as they hung out in his pocket. In Chronicles, you only can use the abilities of the four companions in your active party. It may have been odd for Sonic to carry around series mainstays like Amy and Tails in his pocket (or whatever), but the Paper Mario system is certainly more convenient. As it stands, this forces you to backtrack to your base when you find out what ability you need, and it constricts the freedom you would normally have in choosing who is in your party. Also, more often than not it seems you need Amy to smash some blocks, and frankly she's useless in battle. Sorry, Amy fans, but her special moves just are no good.
I also took off a point because there's nothing particularly fast-paced about field mode. As we'll see later, this game tries to give battle mode a quick pace, despite it being turn-based, so as to emulate the fast pace of the platformers in the series. Field mode is just at a normal pace, though. Sonic, if you have him as your lead character, walks around faster than most others, but they didn't exactly ratchet up the speed. They had some opportunities considering there are points in the story when there is a stated need to hurry... but you never do get a time limit or anything. This really didn't bother me, but it may upset fans of the series's quick pace, who do get some catering to in the battle system, but not in the field.
Battle mode is where this game really stands out. Again, a point of comparison can be drawn to the Mario RPGs, in that battle mode is turn-based - you input the commands for each party member at the start of the round, and then they carry them out in an order based on speed. While regular attacks will be executed without further involvement, if you use a special attack, known in this game as a Pow Move, you'll need to make additional inputs to carry them out effectively. Similar to the action commands of the Mario RPGs, Chronicles engages players throughout the battle by asking them to tap a circle at the right time, drag a circle along a line without falling outside of it, or multitapping a circle within a time limit. Those are, in fact, the only types of action commands, which disappointed me considering that the Paper Marios have more types of action commands. However, Chronicles compensates by having most attacks involve a series of these, like you'll have to tap a bunch of different circles, or even tap some circles, then follow a circle through the line, then tap more circles. It creates a lot of variety out of just a few input methods, especially considering that circles can appear in different places on the screen. One nice touch is that often the action commands sort of replicate the style of the move being performed. For example, if you're running around the enemy to create a cyclone, you'll need to drag a circle along a few curves, and tap a few circles in between.
You'll be tapping and dragging circles often, as they are called upon not only when you use a Pow Move, but also when the enemy uses one. It's also not just trivial that you get them right, but nearly essential. When using a damage-inflicting Pow Move, missing any of the commands can greatly reduce the damage you cause; and when using a move that causes a status effect or aids the party, miss a command and the move is going to fail entirely. On defense the game is a little more forgiving in that you may dodge the attack even if you missed some commands, but if you want to be certain to avoid it, you're going to have to get each one of them. So you'd better pay attention and hit those circles right, or you're going to have a tough time with this game.
That need to pay close attention and quickly tap circles helps to accomplish what may have seemed impossible at first, namely, to create a fast-paced battle system despite it being turn-based. This is definitely not a game where you hit A a lot to input your commands, then just wait until it's time to do it again. Another element that helps the pacing is that many party members, as well as some enemies, can attack two or three times per round, so you get a flurry of activity and a lot can happen before it's your turn to enter more attack commands. Part of the mission statement of this game was to attempt to emulate the quick pace of Sonic's platformers. Chronicle's battle system should be commended for sticking to this goal with an engaging and entertaining battle system that forces the player to move quickly and accurately, with great reward for successfully doing so.
Battle mode in this game has a terrific framework, but there are some areas where it falls short. The first, and biggest flaw, is the fact that characters don't have that many Pow Points, which are needed to execute Pow Moves, and they are difficult to replenish. The standard way to replenish Points is to have your character defend, but you'll only recover a few per round, probably not even enough to fuel one move. You could use items to replenish Points, and you may have a decent supply of items available since you earn one after each battle. But not every item acquired is for Pow Points, you could easily use up all the items that are, and it's difficult to buy more because you don't get that much money in this game.
The best solution to this problem is there is a certain team member who can replenish Pow Points to the team. This makes the game so much better, because otherwise, you're stuck often using just regular attacks, using items, and defending. Though you still would have to use action commands to guard against enemy attacks, without a steady supply of Pow Points, the pace of battle slows dramatically and becomes much more like a traditional turn-based RPG. Using this particular character helps dramatically, though, when treating this character as a must-have for your party, it also limits your freedom of choosing party members to just two spots out of the four, with Sonic always being required. Also, there are times in the game when you must build two distinct parties. This PP-replenishing character can only be in one party, so it's going to be a struggle for the other crew. That character keeps my most severe gripes at bay, and there are some Chao and equippable accessories that can help, but I would have really liked to see PP constantly replenish a little on its own, like in Golden Sun, or for regular attacks to be more potent and to have action commands of their own, to make sure that battles remain at a good, quick pace.
A lesser problem is that too often you'll come up against the same foes, which means you're going to use the same moves you did the last time. This is less of a problem early in the game, where maps seem to have more kinds of enemies on them and you'll be acquiring new party members, each of which can change your strategies. Late in the game, though, it seems like each map only has one or two kinds of foe, and your party will be pretty much set except insofar as you'll need to change it when you find an obstacle your main party can't surpass. Lots of RPGs have this kind of thing where you're facing the same foes repeatedly, but in this game you still must pay close attention to properly execute your Pow Moves. In can become drawn out and frustrating to have to continue being so precise when you've overcome that kind of challenge many times already. I would have liked to see more different enemy arrangements, whether it be new kinds of enemies or new enemy party configurations, so that you wouldn't be fighting the same battle so often.
The difficulty of replenishing Pow Points
could have been a game breaker, but luckily Chronicles just does manage
to avoid it. It's something I needed to mention as you may get frustrated
when that certain character is not available or in case you get tired of
having to constantly use this character's Replenish move. The repetitive
enemies also warranted a point deduction, but on the whole, battle mode
in this game is exciting and original. For me, it was definitely
the highlight of this game.
Control: 8
This game is controlled by the stylus, which I continue to be skeptical of, but it works well here and, given the nature of the action commands, this game would be very different if you had to use the buttons. So, the game did well with these, and I have no complaints about the nature of input.
What I have taken points off for is the in-game menus. I really don't know what section that belongs in, but I am putting it here because it affects your ability to control the game if you can't get good help from the menus. Early in the game, you'll be gaining party members left and right, so you'll have a lot of new Pow Moves to consider. Once you're in battle, though, the game won't give you a description of any of them, so that's going to be a problem if you can't remember what your new moves do. Even when you're in the field, you can only get a detailed description of characters' Pow Moves if they have already been assigned to your active party. Otherwise, you can only get a brief summary of Pow Moves belonging to reserve characters. That makes things difficult as, if you want the most detailed explanation of them, you must move characters into your party, study them, then move other characters into your party and read up on them. It's just a sloppy system. There needs to be a way of seeing a description of Pow Moves as you are selecting them in battle, and you should be able to read up on the Pow Moves of all party members whether or not they are active.
Equipment descriptions are also a big
problem. A lot of them say things like "increases armor" or "increases
damage" (which I assume means attack power), but they don't tell you how
much. The ironic thing is some items do tell you how much they increase
stats by. When items don't tell you how they affect stats, it can
even appear as though your stats will decrease relative to the items you're
already wearing. It makes it really difficult to tell whether equipment
is going to help you. This game does have shops in it, and it would
be nice to spend your Golden Rings at them, but it's really hard to tell
the value of the items there. So in fact, I bought only two items
throughout the game. I said earlier that Golden Rings are valuable
because you do not earn them in battles, but maybe they're not so valuable,
since I didn't actually spend them. I know older RPGs had problems
like this, where it was hard to tell how new equipment would boost stats,
but I expect games to get this right today.
Story: 10
I'm not one who cares much for stories
within games, but this game has a good one that unfolds nicely, fits well
with the series, and is told well, with Sonic being able to ask characters
a series of questions, with follow-ups and the optional snide remark thrown
in. I don't want to reveal anything about the story because that
would mean giving away plot twists and stuff that is better left discovered
while playing the game. In the end there were some things I didn't
understand, but most of it made sense along the way and I may just have
to take another look back to figure those remaining things out. Some
elements of the storyline may not make so much sense to players not familiar
with the Sonic series, such as myself, but Chronicles does kindly include
a glossary that can help with this. I didn't read much of the glossary,
but I still was able to figure most of it out. The storyline in this
game was well executed and I don't have any complaints worth griping about.
Characters: 9
As someone who is not a fan of the Sonic series, I didn't come into this game with a list of characters I hoped I would see. If anything, I had a list of characters I hate most and hoped not to see, starting with Sonic himself... but that is just me. The playable cast is large, with Sonic putting together a party of ten additional friends (well, not all of them are friends). Nine of the party members are required, with two being optional but not that hard to find (including the PP-refreshing character I raved about earlier). Ten of the party members are ones I recognized even as a series outsider, so that would have to make them fairly important to the series, for me to have heard of them. The final character is new to the Sonic Universe and could have been a good addition, except that I'm pretty sure he is left in a position not to be seen again at the end of the game. The game rushes at that point and I don't think that was made so clear, but I'm not sure we can see him again. So that's too bad, as far as getting to add new important characters goes.
There weren't any characters I take
to be very important to the Sonic series who did not become party members.
The only ones I could put out there are maybe Team Chaotix, who only got
a very quick reference. I don't know the series well enough to comment
on whether any of the regular enemies would be familiar to veterans.
The final villain could have maybe been better. We do at least get to see
him before the final battle (unlike, say, Smithy, in SMRPG), but he's pretty
much just your typical maniac. Overall I thought Chronicles did well
with the characters, though I guess you'll have to get the opinion of a
series veteran for the most in depth analysis.
Graphics: 8
I'd say this is a good-looking game.
As a DS game it didn't blow me away, but battles look very nice.
Field mode is maybe a little less impressive, at least insofar as there
isn't much special about it, but this game isn't going to hurt your visual
sensibilities. Maybe the worst thing I could say is that I sometimes
had trouble spotting ramps in the field. Some of the special moves look
nice, though play this game too much and you'll have blue dots burned on
your retinas for a while...
Music: 5
This, I was not impressed by.
There was not one song I really liked. The good news is that each
area does have its own music, and there are several different battle themes,
so there's variety. That would count for more if any of those songs
were any good, though. As a series outsider, I cannot say whether
most of these songs are remixes from older games. I recognized just
one song like this, from this game's final level. I guess I'd have
to call that the best song in this game. The other songs, at least
I didn't recognize them, and I found them kind of dull. I was going
to score this section just a 4, but then I remembered that the sound effects
are actually quite good, from the retro sound effects from early games
in the series, to the bong when a character is knocked out. So I
gave a point back for that.
Levels: 4
The good thing about the levels is that
there's variety and some of them will be familiar to series veterans, such
as the Green Hill Zone and Metropolis. The bad thing is that they're
what you see is what you get, as far as the map is concerned. You
don't have much in the way of indoors areas, where you get to the end of
an area, then enter a fortress or some other kind of stronghold for a big
showdown. The indoors areas that do exist are rarely larger than
a single room and often simply feature one enemy and a treasure chest.
It really cuts down on the dramatics and length of this game, to reach
the end of the area and clear it without having to go through a dungeon
or anything. I thought that was disappointing. Areas do have
some decent girth to them, though if you run past too many of the enemies
you could finish pretty quick.
Length: 4
Sadly, the best game I can compare this to in terms of length is Golden Sun, which suddenly stopped at the end of two lighthouses, and had the other two be moved to a second game. Chronicles isn't quite as bad as that, but it does end on a huge cliffhanger. This could have been a fine way to end if that cliffhanger had been a surprise, then it would only mean there'd be a need for a sequel; but I saw this coming from much earlier in the game, and so wanted to resolve it. Actually the whole ending sequence is very rushed, and even the final boss battle is pretty uninteresting. There seemed to be a lack of effort at the end of this.
Other than that, this game does have
some length to it, but maybe not as much as indicated. The box says
there are 20 levels to explore, but I'm thinking it's really more like
14. Also, you could blow through this game pretty quick if you choose
to pass by most of the enemies. Success in this game is based more
on managing to get the action commands correct rather than on your party
members' level, so you're really not obligated to fight all that many enemies
just to level up. I never did any level grinding. That's fine
with me, level grinding can be dull, but if you're asking me how long the
game is, well, it would be short if you don't take on many of the enemies.
I would have liked to see dungeon-types areas at the end of the levels,
filled with tougher enemies and obstacles, and of course, I want to have
resolved that cliffhanger.
Difficulty: 9
Well, I never got a game over in this game, so there's that. There were times when I thought I was going to be done for, and this game usually does keep you on your toes. You pretty much control your destiny as far as difficulty is concerned because it's mostly based on how good you are at the action commands. I had a rough go of it at first because I had a hard time learning the attack commands, but I got used to them. You'll continue to encounter new patterns of commands on defense, and you're not going to get all of them exactly right, but the game is more forgiving with those.
On the whole, I thought the difficulty was designed well, putting it in the hands of players to control their fate based on their skill, not just based on the increasing stats of the enemies. It's a game that forces you to level up yourself more than your characters, really, as you'll have to learn personally how to do well as the action commands engage you. What I didn't like is that the bosses aren't anything special. It's kind of bad enough the levels don't end with a dungeon or anything... but then the bosses really are hardly stronger than the other enemies. None of them gave me particular trouble. You'd think some would if only because you're seeing those defensive action command sequences for the first time, and they may have high HP, but no. I'm not saying this should be like a Final Fantasy where the bosses can be much, much harder than the enemies around them, but I was looking for something a little tougher than this. The final boss is nothing too difficult, even to the point that I did not think he was the final boss until the game ended with that cliffhanger... which made it even worse, since I did not feel as though I'd just had that long, seat-of-my-non-existent-pants battle to conclude the experience.
So the bottom line on the difficulty
is, you pretty much set your own and it does keep you engaged, so it's
good overall, but I would have liked to see tougher bosses.
Fun Factor!: 7
I pounded Chronicles on some of these
later sections, and do feel there may have been a rush or a lack of effort
at the end. Despite this, the gameplay is really good. It's
not like it's Paper Mario 3 or anything, but the fact that I even could
draw so many comparisons to Mario's RPGs I think shows that this game has
something special. A lack of length and a failure to include dungeons
are shortcomings, and the difficulty of replenishing crucial Pow Points
could be a huge problem if you don't use that one character, but this game
is fun right off the bat and I think there's enough to get you happily
through to the end, even if the ending does leave you a little cold.
Recommendation:
Given that I did just experience that weak ending, it's hard for me to give the level of recommendation I had been planning to earlier. The fact of the matter is, though, that I liked this game, and I hate Sonic. So I think that says something about the quality of this game. I think Sonic fans should make the leap even if they are not fans of RPGs and maybe cringe when they hear about turn-based battles, because this is not your average Final Fantasy button masher and it does use many elements from the Sonic series. I think fans of the Paper Marios should get this, Sonic fans or not, because the basics of the gameplay are very similar. This is probably more like Paper Mario 2 than Super Paper Mario was. And, maybe anyone looking for that different RPG, or someone who wants to try the genre but is looking for something more like from the arcade or with a faster pace. There are quite a few groups that I would say should give this game a look. I guess you would have to give it a pass if the idea of tapping all those circles just sounds too boring, but I think Chronicles could very well rope you in.
As I venture forth after playing this game, I am determined to continue hating Sonic. I have hated him for years, and I love to do so. I am not interested in playing his older games, and I will continue to shake my head sadly when tourists send me Mario-Sonic crossovers. But for one moment in time, I was on board with the hedgehog. I may even have a soft spot in my heart now for at least that one character that made this game run much more smoothly. And if I hear that Sonic Chronicles is getting a sequel? If it appears to be like this game, then I'll be getting that one too.
| If you would like to send some feedback
to the author of this submission, please complete this form.
What's your name?
What's your Email address?
How do you rate this submission?
Does this submission belong in Little
Lemmy's Land?
Would you like to see more from this author? Comments and suggestions:
|
